a. Field
This disclosure relates to a medical device for diagnosis or treatment of tissue in a body and method for fabricating the same. In particular, the instant disclosure relates to a medical device with a packaged electronic subassembly and method for fabricating the same.
b. Background Art
A wide variety of medical devices are inserted into the body to diagnose and treat various medical conditions. Catheters, for example, are used to perform a variety of tasks within human bodies and other bodies including the delivery of medicine and fluids, the removal of bodily fluids and the transport of surgical tools and instruments. In the diagnosis and treatment of atrial fibrillation, for example, catheters may be used to deliver electrodes to the heart for electrophysiological mapping of the surface of the heart and to deliver ablative energy to the surface among other tasks.
It is known to determine the position of such medical devices through the use of an electromagnetic field-based positioning system, which, in turn, typically involves equipping the medical device with an electromagnetic field sensing sensor. Such a sensor is then connected to a conductor in an electrical cable in the medical device to transfer the detected signal to the positioning system for further processing. Such an electrical connection can be made my soldering the respective leads of the sensor and cable together at a solder joint. However, the leads and sensors themselves are delicate and, thus, can be damaged during fabrication and assembly of the medical device. Moreover, due to the small diameter (e.g., 10 μm) and fragility of the leads, the leads can break at or near the solder joint during or after testing (e.g., stress rupture testing) of the medical device. Another mechanism for electrically coupling the sensor and cable is by coupling the respective leads of the sensor and cable to a rigid or flexible substrate disposed therebetween. In light of the relatively small dimensions that such sensors must exhibit in order to fit into a typical medical device, fabrication of such sensors can be complicated, occupy undesirable amounts of radial space in the device, and/or involve fabrication methods that are more costly than desired.
The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate the present field and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.